ny times

I've been reading Salon's Glenn Greenwald about as long as I've been intently following news and politics commentary on the web, and over the last three plus years, I've become quite a fan of his writing. While not always entirely agreeing with his stance on certain issues, it's tough to argue against his credibility and journalistic ethics, a couple of traits sometimes in short supply these days. However, all of that changed yesterday afternoon when Greenwald posted his third piece on the squashed feud between Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly that had been orchestrated by higher-ups from the parent company of each's network, GE and NewsCorp, respectively. (I guess this is also where I mention that, while I find his shtick to be sometimes tiresome, I watch Olbermann's show a lot.)

Because of the Olbermann-O'Reilly feud-getting-squashed story, I've lost all my respect for Glenn Greenwald. Instead of being a man of ethics and truth, he has shown himself to be a truly petty person, interested only in his own standing and his own stake. Whereas he was once someone I truly respected, especially in disagreement, some of his actions and responses over the last three days have made me question his journalistic integrity and his moral make up. Instead of sticking to the truth of the story, and the pursuit of that truth, Greenwald has chosen to put his personal interests at the forefront and make his reputation the most important thing, to the detriment of not just his integrity, but the truth as well.